2000 Chevy Silverado - Project New Guy - Busted Knuckles

Building a Daily Driveable Show Truck

I picked up my 2000 Chevy Silverado extended cab in late 2010 and shortly after decided that I needed to make it less stock and more custom. I wanted to 'bag it and build it into a show truck that I could still use to drive to and from work, without breaking the bank, of course. To do this I needed to make sure to pick high-quality parts and have it built just right. After several months of stock piling parts for my first lowered project, I finally had everything together to get started on it. That's when I took the truck to Adam and Andy Diaz at Master Image Customs in Montclair, California.

The first thing the guys at MIC did was remove the front and rear suspension components. Then they bolted on a complete suspension system from KP Components. This included drop spindles, arms, and double adjustable billet Varishocks for the front. Out back, a KP cantilevered four-link with a Watt's link and another pair of Varishocks was bolted on. Slam Specialties RE-7 'bags fed by 3/8-inch line from a pair of Viair 480C compressors help bring the truck down over the 22-inch Bonspeed Malibu wheels. The wheels are wrapped in Toyo Proxes STII rubber, size 265/35R22. Behind the wheels sits a big brake kit from SSBC, with six-piston calipers up front and four-piston calipers out back. With the suspension taken care of, I took the truck to Unrestricted Auto Trends in Lake Elsinore, California, where Jake Provoost and his team of bodymen went to work making the body showroom smooth.

This truck spent the first ten years of its life as a work truck, hauling concrete, shovels, wheelbarrows, and all sorts of other construction equipment from jobsite to jobsite. The body was in rough shape. After arriving at Unrestricted Auto Trends, the Bow Tie was shed of its bed. After hours of pounding out wrinkles, dings, and dents, body filler was used to smooth the truck completely. During this process, the interior was completely removed. Most of the plastics went into the spray booth to receive a color-matched coat of paint and clear. The interior was covered in Hushmat to prepare it for the sound system.

After three months of work, this Chevy lays frame, the body is smooth, and it is ready for primer. Next, the seats will be wrapped in black and blue leather from Roadwire. They will also be in charge of wrapping the headliner and pillars in black suede. Black carpet from ACC will be laid down over the floorboards. US Speedo will give the gauge cluster a bit of a touchup. Extreme Audio and Customs in Riverside, California, is responsible for all of the Kicker audio that will be installed. Four Odyssey batteries will run the audio from the bed and will be covered by a Truck Covers USA rolling tonneau cover. As you can see from the rendering, the body will be covered in blue and yellow paint from PPG. The yellow will be coated in gold flake and outlined in silver leaf. If you went to the 2011 SEMA show, you might have seen this truck in the Truckin' booth. If not, keep an eye out for the buildup and the feature that will be coming in the near future. I want to send a shout-out to all the sponsors on the truck, also to Adam and Andy at MIC, Jake, Al, Esqueleto, and Andrew at Unrestricted Auto Trends, and my loving fiancé Jess for dealing with the SEMA crunch and supporting me the whole way.